Emergency Management in County Government: A National Study, published by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, was commissioned by NACo to examine key aspects of county emergency management, including its organizational structure, budgets and funding, personnel and training, use of technology, and ways counties collaborate with other government entities and nongovernmental organizations.
The study found that:
- Most emergency management agency heads (77 percent) have duties beyond emergency management.
- The 2005 hurricane season had little effect on the budgets of emergency management agencies in county government. Only 39 percent of counties anticipate a budget increase, and of those that do, only 12 percent attribute the increase to the experience on the Gulf Coast in 2005.
- Between 58 and 84 percent of U.S. counties participate in federal grant programs.
- Only 38 percent of U.S. counties do not have a mobile operations command unit, and one in four has no alternate command center of any type.
- Eighty percent of U.S. counties use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, but only 14 percent have this capacity within the emergency management agency.
- Most collaborative activities have been limited to informal agreements and joint planning activities. Only about half of U.S. counties have formal agreements in place, usually with a state agency or other county governments.
- Respondents' assessment of emergency preparedness was best for county police/sheriff and
